Most Shopify stores we audit do not have a content problem; they have a structure problem. The platform handles a lot of technical work for you, but a few defaults and theme habits work against you. This is the list we run on every new store.
Technical foundations
- A primary domain is set and every other domain 301-redirects to it — with or without www, but only one.
- The theme links products directly at /products/…, not through /collections/…/products/…. Shopify sets a canonical, but internal links to the duplicate paths still dilute signals and waste crawl.
- The sitemap at /sitemap.xml is submitted in Search Console and shows no errors.
- robots.txt is reviewed: filter and sort URLs are not crawlable at scale. Changes go through the robots.txt.liquid template.
- Tag pages (/collections/…/tag) without their own content are not indexed.
- Paginated collection pages stay crawlable but are not treated as landing pages.
- Password-protected and development stores are not indexable.
- For several countries or languages, hreflang from Shopify Markets is reciprocal and each version has a self-referencing canonical.
Speed and Core Web Vitals
- Field data in Search Console: LCP under 2.5 s, INP under 200 ms and CLS under 0.1 on mobile.
- The hero image is prioritised, never lazy-loaded, and served at the width it is displayed.
- Every app's script cost is known, and leftovers from uninstalled apps are removed from the theme.
- The consent banner loads lightly and does not shift the layout.
Collections: where the search demand is
- The collection structure follows search demand, not only the menu: women's running shoes is a collection, not a filter.
- Every important collection has an introduction and, ideally, buying guidance below the grid.
- Collection titles and meta descriptions are written, not left as the generated default.
- Important collections are linked from navigation, breadcrumbs, related collections and articles.
Product pages
- Product titles say what the product is, not only its brand name.
- Descriptions are your own, not the manufacturer's copy shared with every other retailer.
- Product images have alt text that describes the image.
- Variants with their own search demand, such as colours, are a deliberate decision: one URL with variants or separate products.
- Sold-out products stay live while they have traffic; permanently removed products redirect to the closest collection.
- GTIN, brand and material are filled in — Google Shopping and AI assistants increasingly rely on them.
Structured data
- Product and Offer markup carries price, currency and availability that match the page.
- Review markup appears only with real reviews visible on the page.
- BreadcrumbList and Organization markup exist, with no duplicate Product blocks from theme and apps.
- Google's Rich Results Test shows no errors on a variant, a sold-out product and a second market.
Content, AI search and measurement
- Guides answer the questions asked before purchase and link to the relevant collection.
- Common questions are answered visibly on the page, briefly and directly — exactly the passages AI search quotes.
- AI search crawlers are not blocked by an old robots file or security setting.
- Search Console and GA4 with Consent Mode v2 are set up, and organic revenue is measured, not just traffic.
The five most common Shopify mistakes
- Product links through collection paths across the whole theme
- Hundreds of indexed filter and tag URLs with near-identical content
- Collections with no text at all, only a product grid
- Duplicate structured data from theme and review app
- Redirects forgotten during a replatform
What you can do yourself
Titles, descriptions, alt text, collection copy and redirects are all editable in the Shopify admin. Theme links, robots.txt.liquid, structured data and app scripts need theme-code access. If you do one thing today: open Search Console, sort pages by impressions, and check that the pages at the top are the ones you expect to be there.